On display

Gold coin of Kumaragupta I

A horse sacrificed by Kumaragupta, king of
the Gupta dynasty, which ruled large areas of northern India from
the fourth to the sixth century AD.

The Gupta dynasty gold coin was named the dinara after
the Roman denarius aureus - a reflection of Indian trading
contacts with the West and the export of Roman coinage as bullion
to India.

However, the designs of Gupta coinage were completely
Indianized, and they were closely connected with the ancient Indian
concept of a chakravartin (a universal monarch or ideal
ruler).

This unique design shows a tethered horse. It symbolises the
ashvamedha ritual of legitimizing the conquests of a
honourable and pious king, in this case Kumaragupta I (around AD
415-50). After a great victory, a horse was left to roam for a year
and all the lands he passed through in that time belonged
rightfully to the king. At the end of the year the horse was
sacrificed in celebration of the great king's victory.

The reverse of this coin shows a goddess (probably Lakshmi, the
Hindu goddess of good fortune), with the royal attributes of a
standard and a flywhisk.